Barack in Iraq
Tried something a bit new (for me at least)… comments embedded in a video.
Some additional thoughts since it is hard to squeeze everything into that little window in the video.
Sure seems like, contrary to Obama’s insistence that he will factor in the counsel of General Petraeus, he has already made up his mind that the troops will be pulled out of Iraq.
Obama also seems to think that, as president, he would have the power to move money that has been allocated to our efforts in Iraq to wherever he wants to move it.
In fact, he appears to believe he can spend some of the money twice:
- Once in Afghanistan as we shift the focus to where he believes our real strategic interests lie (is it just me or do liberals only think we have strategic interests in areas that do not provide us any strategic value)
- Then again, as he points out in this video, that money would be used domestically to improve our economy
At about 1:45 of the video, although Obama has repeatedly said he will not get into hypotheticals in response to queries about his opposition to the “surge”, Obama discusses a hypothetical disagreement with General Petraeus where he essentially says that Petraeus will not have the freedom to make decisions on the utilization of funds designated to the rebuilding effort in Iraq… Obama will reserve the right to take those funds back and use them elsewhere. I wonder if the Dem controlled Congress would even object to this power grab? Why bother even having appropriations bills.. just have one big slush fund and let Obama, with all his experience as an executive, decide how to spend our money.
Speaking of the surge… Obama can not even admit the obvious… he was wrong:
Again… searching for words, stumbling over the answer, resorting to cliches (hindsight is 20/20) … but not admitting he was wrong. If the country had followed his advice:
- America would have essentially surrendered
- The situation in Afghanistan would be worse because our enemy would believe, rightfully so, that America will run from a bloody nose, just like in Somalia
- Our strategic foothold on the border of Iran would have vanished (and still might if Obama is elected)
Speaking of Somalia, reading some old articles, I got a sense of Deja Vu:
WSJ 2002 - President Bush the Elder sent U.S. forces into Somalia in December 1992 to aid the United Nations in relieving a massive famine. In May of 1993, four months into his term, President Clinton declared that mission accomplished and pulled out most of the U.S. force. In a speech on the South Lawn to associate himself with the effort, he extolled the decision to intervene: “If all of you who served had not gone, it is absolutely certain that tens of thousands would have died by now.” It was a “successful mission,” he said, and “proved yet again that American leadership can help to mobilize international action.”
But back in Somalia, with no U.S. deterrent, Somalia’s warlords began fighting again. After a series of bloody attacks on U.N. peacekeepers, Mr. Clinton launched a new mission: In August 1993, he sent in a force of Rangers and Special Forces units to capture the brutal warlord Mohammad Farrah Aidid and restore order.
That force asked for heavy armor–in the form of Abrams tanks and Bradley armored vehicles–as well as the AC-130 gunship, but the Clinton Administration denied those requests. On October 3 on a mission to pick up Aidid, two Black Hawks were unexpectedly shot down; in the ensuing urban gun battle, 18 American soldiers were killed and another 73 injured.
Sounds familiar. Obama wants to pull out of Iraq with the option to go back in if violence erupts. (Didn’t he want to pull out before because there WAS violence in Iraq?) But right now we have a solid presence; if we pull out and then have to rush back in, we will be at a tactical and operational disadvantage and American troops will die. And for what? So that Obama can keep his promise to the loons on the left?
Many are starting to think an Obama presidency is a foregone conclusion, including the candidate himself apparently:
From Politico via Yahoo - A dozen top foreign policy advisers are either traveling with Obama or doing ground work ahead of his arrival in each country. This group is supplemented by his usual contingent of almost a dozen traveling aides, including chief campaign strategist David Axelrod and communications director Robert Gibbs, and too many advance staff to count.
Even as his closest aides insist that the trip is a fact-finding and relationship building mission, Obama’s every step is being intricately managed to maximize political advantage.
From the saturated media coverage to the one-on-one meetings with heads of state, the trip already had a White House feel. The scope of the traveling staff simply adds to an aura of a president-in-waiting. On Tuesday, aides attempted to invoke White House rules and traditions by requiring reporters to withhold the names of senior advisers who brief the press. But they were reminded twice by reporters that they were not in the White House and Obama was not president.
If his lack of experience, apparent ignorance that requires him to travel with dozens of advisers so he can appear to know what he is talking about, refusal to let facts get in the way of his view of the world (eg: refusal to reverse his view of the surge, refusal to view our presence in Iraq as a strategic advantage, willingness to raise capital gains taxes in the interest of “fairness” even though he acknowledges the economy would be damaged)… if all these things are not enough to convince you this man should not be president, maybe you should consider the fact that he is (again) being selected, not elected, with the help of the far-left elements of the media… and he is believing his own press.
Oh sure.. we’ll have an election. But the constant drone of the media is painting the picture we are all supposed to see when we pull the lever to vote: Obama is presidential, McCain is irrelevant. Strange when you consider the comparison of accomplishments of these two men.
This is bordering on scary.
If Obama is elected president, he will have accomplished more in this election than in his entire post-academic life prior to today… he will have attained the highest office in America without having accomplished anything of note, without having a core set of beliefs he feels comfortable sharing with the American people, after having reneged on campaign promises before even taking office, and with the sense that he has a blank check to rule as he deems fit.. almost to the level of a dictator… and that scares the hell out of me.
Stumble it!
September 16th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
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